Playing the best season of her career so far, the world number four now had a good shot to clinch a first career major along with a top spot in the rankings.

With five trophies already claimed this year, three of them at Premier 5 level, Elina Svitolina is definitely among the favorites to lift the US Open trophy at the end of the tournament. With 6 of her nine titles won on hard-courts, Svitolina already showed to be comfortable enough on this surface to be a serious contender in New York.

Notable results to date

Svitolina started her season in Brisbane, reaching the semifinal with a win against world Angelique Kerber. It had been her third career win against a world number one, after having defeated Serena Williams at Rio Olympics and Kerber in at 2016 China Open.

After an early exit at the Australian Open, she started a 15-matches winning streak with the Taiwan Open title, the first of the year. After two wins in Fed Cup, she confirmed her good form by winning Dubai Duty Free Tennis Championships. For her first Premier 5 crown, she defeated once more Kerber in the semifinals, and then Caroline Wozniacki in the final - both in straight sets, dropping only one set in the entire tournament.

She started her clay season in Istanbul, booking her third trophy of the year. She made it four in Rome, where she defeated the likes of Karolina Pliskova and benefitted from a retirement from Muguruza to reach the final. She overcame Simona Halep in three sets, to claim a second Premier 5 crown and the top spot in the Porsche Race to Singapore, along with a career-high ranking of number 6 in the world.

An injury occurred in Birmingham forced her to pull out of most of the grass season, but didn’t stop her from playing Wimbledon. At the Championships, she reached the fourth round for the first time, losing to French Open champion Jelena Ostapenko.

Svitolina at 2017 French Open [photo credit: Adam Pretty/Getty Images]

Hard court results leading up to the US Open

Svitolina started her US Open series campaign in Toronto, where she claimed her fifth title of the year, and the third one at Premier 5 level. She performed her most successful run so far, defeating opponents as Daria Kasatkina, Venus Williams, Muguruza and Halep, before meeting Wozniacki in the match for the title, the second of the year in a final. As in the first time, Svitolina booked the win in two sets, setting the record of five wins in five finals played in 2017.

In Cincinnati, she lost her first match of the year at Premier 5 level - after a streak of 16 wins - losing to Julia Goerges in the third round.

Best US Open results

Svitolina had never been past the third round at the US Open, result she achieved two times in the past two years. In 2016, she played as the 22nd seed, and her run ended by the hands of Kvitova. The year before, as the 17th seed, she had been stopped by Ekaterina Makarova.

Her only other main draw win had happened in 2013, where, as an unseeded player, she had upset 17th seed Dominika Cibulkova in the opening round, before falling to Christina McHale.

Nevertheless, she will start her 2017 campaign in New York with the most comfortable spot of the fourth seed. In the first round, she will play Katerina Siniakova, which she had never met before in a WTA match.